Induction at Mara Easter Week 1
Its has been a busy week here in Musoma. Arriving by local bus from Mwanza (4.5 hours) I learned a lot from just a bus ride. I gave up my seat to a woman with two kids she was standing trying to hold as the bus weaved along the main road avoiding hazards. Lots of young blokes who didn’t even look up. This is a strongly dominated male culture.
Bishop George met me at the bus station and took me home. I am living with him while in Musoma. His wife Janet who teaches in Dodoma came home early for Easter to greet me and head back to Dodoma (20 hours on a bus) on Easter Monday. Christina is the housekeeper who cooks, cleans and does all things domestic. There is a 24 hour security guard at the gate and at night the guards are armed.
I had the house to myself on Saturday and Sunday as they went to a village for confirmations and it was too far to travel back Saturday night. I went for a walk up town and cvisited the markets and bought one or two items. A plate to sit on top of the gas stove will allow my stove top espresso maker to keep me in decent coffee.
The heat has surprised me and I did sleep a lot on the weekend. Not sure if it was the heat or effects of jetlag. The weekend also brought news from my wife that she had tested positive for COVID on a PCR after two negative RATS. While concerning she was assuring me she had only mild symptoms. How I have not contacted it as my daughter and two grandkids contracted it in the days prior to my departure and I had significant contact with them the previous weekend at my grandson’s birthday party.
I downloaded Duolingo, hoping to learn some basic Swahili given I am here for more than just a week as have my past visits been. I gave up by Monday, but Glen a former missionary here who is back for ten days to say goodbye after the hasty Covid departure said he would see if there were any books they had when they were learning Swahili.
The first day in the office surpised. I have an office and a title – Business Manager – somewhat embarrassing and I did ask who made way for me to have sucha big office. Katibu (Diocesan Secretary Max) told me it was a meeting room and as I was a “big man” I deserved a big office. By week’s end it was all making sense. The photo of the office says all you need to know about the state of administration not only here but generally in Africa. A meeting with the bishop outlined the tasks he had in mind for me to work on in my time here. The list seemed intimidating initially but as the week went on it was clear I am seen by him as a change agent.
My induction proceeded with introductions to all staff working in the diocesan office here.. There are many departments and significantly a number of younger staff. The diocesan office now has a legal adviser, given litigation is becoming an issue and also to deal with land issues and contracts.
I spent most of Tuesday in Mother’s Union Board meeting. Significantly from that I learned that MU had done training in 2018 on a Church & Community Mobilisation Program (CCMP) and two groups have already saved TZS 30 million (Tanzanian Shillings) or about $18,000 which was used to finance small projects on a loan basis to community members. This is significant and the bishop is keen to have this roll out across the diocese. Reading through the financial statements I was also questioning how accounts are presented and individual cost centres not showing as P&L centres. This is an area to address with finance who was at the meeting. Over the Easter weekend (Thursday, Friday, Saturday) Janet and a number of MU members visited remote villages with gifts of food and school supplies for distribution to needy children and their parents.
Wednesday was sermon preparation day. But first I had to sort out my online access to the bank as I had been locked out due to too many attempts at my passowrd. I ended up having to go to town and but an international bundle for the phone and ringing my bank. Amazingly it only took 10 minutes but the bundle did cost $30 and was needed as I didn’t have SMS for my Australian number to receive a code to verify it was me making the changes.
The Bible readings for Sunday were Psalm 118:14-24, Isaiah 25:6-9, 1 Cor 5:7-8 and Mark 16:1-7. By day’s end I had the outline completed and an idea of what I was going to say.
Maundy Thursday was a meeting with Arthur who has three jobs in the diocese. It went for three hours and it seems he and I will work together trying to help manage his workload and put in systems that will help him. I manged the completion of my sermon and used Google translate to translate it into Swahili. The bishop was impressed at the accuracy of the translated sermon. The subject is The Shroud has Been Lifted. I also wrote a blog on the absence of Easter Bunnies and eggs in Tanzania. It struck me that there is no commercial advertising of Easter. The blog can be located at the link above. At 3pm a service was held in the cathedral with lots of music. I took a video of a song sung by the bishop’s secretary. It is absoultely amazing when you think these singers have no formal music training.
Good Friday was church at 10am (English) and at midday a service of the last seven sayings of Jesus which lasted three hours. First time I have ever heard of this type of service but lo and behold Darling Point Anglican in Sydney had the exact same service but with nine last sayings. Church is very liturgical and this would have been a high holy day. Again excellent music. In this context the liturgy is remembered as I observed even young children reciting responses. No prayer books in sight. I downloaded a Swahili song book earlier in the week and was able to attempt to sing some of the songs in Swahili.
Glenn and Dominique who were missionaries here for ten years are back to say goodbye and sort out their goods before going home. A short trip of ten days, they took the bishop and I for dinner to a local restaurant which allowed a time of saying goodbye. The school Glenn led had a farewell for him earlier in the week and formal farewell from the diocese will take place on Tuesday before they head home.
My diet here is totally changed. I have been doing keto for over three years and the diet here is totally the opposite. High carbs, high protein and low fat. Fat in fact is only in the oil used for cooking and any fish or meat. In the week here I have eaten an extraordinary amount of beans and am surprised at how tasty they are.
Christina the housekeeper here knows how to cook. Rice is an accompaniment with most meals and either a small amount of meat, generally chicken but once we had beef. Spinach as greens and plantains (cooked bananas) are regular side dishes and maybe 100 -150grams of meat on any day. On the days eating out I order tilapia, a freshwater fish from Lake Victoria – arguably the tastiest fish in the world. The house is literally a 200 metre walk to the largest lake in Africa.
Perhaps the biggest change is walking the dogs or should I say the dogs running us. It is a brisk 2.5 km circuit as the dogs pull us along. I haven’t exercised as hard in many years. My heart rate is getting to 160 according to my Fitbit. My thighs are feeling it. On Saturday the dogs get a wash that essentially dips them in public dog bath and has chemicals for parasites, ticks and allows them to be scrubbed down. This happened before sunrise so they get the first bath. 80 to 100 dogs go through the same water on Saturdays for 500 TZS each.
So it has been busy, tiring but a great start. I am lookning forward to the next few months.
AfricaEddie 